Page 19 of Bad Boy Bakers, Vol. 2
Chapter One
Shoulders hunched against the damp winter wind, Mitchell Greyson stepped inside Elvira’s Tavern.
As the heavy wood door swung shut behind him, cutting off the cold, he waited for his eyes to adjust. Though he hadn’t set foot in here for more than three decades, he still recognized shades of the place it used to be in the wooden booths built along the perimeter walls and the dark beams crossing the ceiling.
But the floors had clearly been sanded down and refinished at some point.
They glowed with the warmth of well-restored wood.
The walls and ceiling had been repainted sometime after public smoking had been outlawed, covering up years of stains with a bright, warm cream.
Somebody with a hell of a lot of talent had refaced the long bar with carved panels, and the shelves holding the selections of liquor were a subtle testament to someone who knew how to craft things out of wood for both function and beauty.
Strands of garland and twinkle lights along the shelves and around some of the supporting columns were the only real nod to the holiday season.
The whole place was warm and inviting, more elevated and subtly sophisticated than the merely functional bar and grill it had been during Grey’s youth.
Given tourism had finally made its way to Eden’s Ridge, he figured that was a positive.
The man he’d come to meet was already seated in a corner booth, his back to the wall where he could observe the whole place.
Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.
Grey unwound his scarf and strode across the tavern to join him. “Ferguson.”
“Captain.” Jonah’s tone was cool, respectful, but Grey could see a hint of temper in his familiar green eyes. He’d expected that.
Shucking his coat, he slipped into the opposite side of the booth. “Thank you for coming.”
Jonah inclined his head. “Of course.”
“You didn’t have to. I’m not your CO anymore.” And neither of them was still in the Navy.
A trace of amusement leaked into his expression. “Yeah, well, old habits are hard to break. You said you wanted to talk to me.”
Grey opened his mouth to speak, but a cheerful voice with a broad East Tennessee twang broke in.
“What can I get you, fellas?” The well-endowed blonde flashed an extra bright smile at Jonah and made Grey feel about twice his fifty-three years.
He lifted a brow at the younger man. “Let me buy you a beer?”
“All right. I’ll have a glass of that IPA on tap.”
“I’ll have the same.”
“Any appetizers? Or would you like to go ahead and order dinner?”
Depending on how this conversation went, they probably wouldn’t be here that long. “That’s all for now.”
“Coming right up.”
She sashayed away, the extra swing in her step entirely lost on the very-engaged Jonah, who barely spared her a glance.
Not in the habit of mincing words, Grey took a breath and dove in. “I wanted to apologize for last month.”
One dark brow lifted. “Just for last month?”
Damn, he looked just like his mother when he did that. Had it always been that pronounced, or had being home and back around her on a regular basis brought more of those expressions to the surface?
“I didn’t show up at your business intending to blindside you. I really did come to check and see how you were doing.”
After a head injury ended his naval career, Jonah had completed an experimental therapy program that trained him as a master baker. He’d returned home with two friends from the same program and opened a bakery.
“So seeing my mom there was just a bonus?” On the surface, his tone was conversational, but there was a thrum of something underneath that Grey couldn’t quite peg.
Seeing Rebecca there had been… shocking. Exciting. And, in its own way, devastating.
“She was part of the business that brought me to town, but I had no way of knowing she’d be there that day.”
“And if she hadn’t been, would you ever have told me you two knew each other?”
That was the crux of the younger man’s irritation.
Grey could respect it. “Eventually. Look, I know you’re pissed I kept it from you that I was from here.
That I knew your mom. But I had my reasons.
You and I had a professional relationship.
Rebecca and I didn’t part on good terms.” Understatement of the century.
“I had no idea what she might say about me if you went home and asked, and I didn’t want that to damage our working relationship, or the mutual respect we were building.
Add to that, I didn’t want anybody to accuse me of favoritism. ”
A furrow dug in between Jonah’s brows. “Favoritism?”
“I didn’t exactly favor you, but I kept a closer eye on you than I would have. Because you were hers, and because she mattered to me.” Once upon a time, he’d have done anything for Rebecca Ferguson.
Anything except the one thing she’d wanted.
The server came back with their beers. “Anything to eat, y’all?”
They both shook their heads, and she retreated.
Jonah lifted his glass and sipped before leaning back in his seat. “What’s the deal with you two? Mom got weird after you were here last month.”
Grey wondered what kind of weird. “Well, that is largely between me and your mother. But I can tell you we were friends for years. She and your dad and I were the three amigos from the time we were little. All the way back to about the second grade.”
But they hadn’t stayed that way. It seemed inevitable now that he and Lonnie would both have fallen in love with her.
Sipping at his own beer, Grey fought not to fall into the past. “After high school, your mom and I had a big fight. We both said things we probably regretted, and I haven’t seen her in over thirty years.
Until that day at the bakery. I’ve certainly had time to grow up and think about how things might’ve been different, and I’m sure she has, too.
We’ve got some history we need to work through, and that’s just for us.
But I know my coming back here impacts you, too, and I wanted to say I’m sorry for not telling you.
I wouldn’t change my decision, but I understand that the whole situation was probably weird for you. ”
Jonah sat with that for a moment before nodding in acknowledgment. “I appreciate that.” He leaned forward, elbows on the table. “So you’re really moving back here now that you’ve retired?”
“That’s the plan. I’ve been away from home for a long time. I’d like to come back.”
“Why didn’t you before?”
“My parents moved while I was in college. When I was on leave, I generally went to them.” It had been both a blessing and a curse to have a reason to stay away from Tennessee and all the what ifs that lingered here.
“So, what are you going to do? You’re not exactly the settle gracefully into puttering around kind of guy.”
Grey snorted a laugh. That was putting it mildly.
“You’re not wrong. I got out about eight months ago.
Went through this veteran transition training program out in Montana.
It made a big difference, so I decided I want to open a similar program here.
Or as close to here as I can manage. You know as well as I do that there will never be enough of those kinds of resources. ”
“True that. What about your family?”
“None left. I lost my dad about five years ago. Mom last year. I recently finished dealing with the cleaning out of their house and closing out of their estate, so it was a good time for a major change.”
A shadow crossed Jonah’s features. “Yeah. That shit’s tough. I just did the same.”
That was another point of pain for Grey.
The man who’d once been a brother to him had died, and Grey had never once attempted to mend their relationship.
Lonnie had gotten the girl, so Grey hadn’t known how.
Even when he’d found out from Jonah that his mom was divorced, he hadn’t been able to make himself reach out.
It was just one of many regrets he carried.
Jonah twitched his shoulders, as if shaking off his own dark thoughts. “So, what are you doing for Christmas?”
A fair question since it was the day after tomorrow.
“Nothing. It’s just another day this year.”
The younger man’s face twisted in true horror. “No. Are you gonna be in town?”
“Yeah. I rented a house for the foreseeable future until I decide what I’m buying.”
“Then you’re coming to Christmas dinner.”
Grey smiled a little, proud of this piece of military culture. Leave no man behind. “I appreciate the offer, but that’s not necessary.”
Jonah’s mouth twisted into a familiar stubborn set that had Grey thinking about Rebecca again. “Absolutely not an option. You are not going to be alone on Christmas.”
It wasn’t like he was looking forward to it. But what Jonah was proposing wasn’t as simple a thing as he made it out to be.
“Is this going to be okay with your mother?”
“We’ve always had an open door policy. She believes the more the merrier. And as you said, y’all used to be friends.”
Friends was the least of what they’d been, but he wasn’t going to mention that to Rebecca’s son. Because of that history, he wasn’t sure this was the best idea. But he wanted the chance to get close to her again, and he wouldn’t waste the opportunity presented.
“Well, all right then. Just tell me when and where and what I can bring.”
“You’re looking awfully cheerful for a woman about to be feeding sixteen people.”
Rebecca Ferguson grinned and linked her arm with Donna Black, one of her long-time friends. “All my chicks are home to roost, so I’m especially thankful.”